Top
Zanu, MDC officials in major scam

The Zimbabwean has unearthed shocking details of how high
profile people, among them the late Vice President Joseph Msika and a
current top MDC-T official, were engaged in a cross-border money laundering
scheme that resulted in unsuspecting Zimbabweans being sold condemned
agricultural inputs.

The names of the alleged money launderers cannot
be published at this stage as we have been unable to secure their side of
the story, but it has been established that President Robert Mugabe and Vice
President Joice Mujuru were tipped off about the criminal activities by the
syndicate.

Correspondence from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe dated 16 May
2007 and addressed to Mujuru by the late RBZ Senior Division Chief in charge
of Exchange Control, Paul Sigauke, titled “International Money Laundering
Operation” indicates that the top MDC-T official formed a shelf company that
was used to import fertiliser and maize from South Africa.

The
document, which shows that senior police officers shuttled between the two
countries during high level investigations, says the company operated in
direct contact with another South African firm (name supplied) that was
responsible for shipping the inputs back to Zimbabwe.

The scam
basically involved raising US dollars by one of the officials (who had
strong links with Msika) by selling maize to the Grain Marketing Board and
subsequently depositing it in offshore accounts of conspiring partners, one
of whom is a former Zanu (PF) heavyweight currently living outside the
country.

The money was then transferred to a number of accounts in
South Africa to buy the inputs. The fertiliser, Sigauke claimed, was tested
in South Africa and passed for transmission to Zimbabwe in the full
knowledge that it was bad and would not be suitable for agricultural
purposes. When it got to Harare’s GMB Aspindale depot, it was tested again
and found to be unsuitable, yet GMB officials proceeded to sell it to
farmers.

“The imported fertiliser … failed three independent tests in
Harare but was sold by GMB knowing that it would not grow maize in
Zimbabwe,” reads the document. The report says RBZ financed the Harare tests
on the fertiliser. The shipment of the condemned grain and fertiliser
commenced in 2007, but the document does not indicate the amounts involved,
even though it says the contract to ship grain to Zimbabwe was “awarded by
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe…without Mugabe’s knowledge”.

RBZ
officials, in communication copied to RBZ Governor, Gideon Gono, and the
then State Security Minister, Nicholas Goche, warned of the corrupt
fertiliser imported through the company owned by the top MDC
member.

The named company banked with a leading financial institution
headed by the official’s close relative.

“(The intention) was to sell
this fertilizer to communal farmers who did not know that crop failure was
guaranteed. I am of the opinion that it was a plot to ensure that certain
parts of the population would buy this and their crops would fail,” reads
Sigauke’s letter to Mujuru.

The alleged transactions happened when the
country was reeling under a severe inputs shortage.

According to
Sigauke, Msika approached the RBZ and convinced its management to enable his
colleague, who in the mid-2000s was also named in illegal grain exportation
deals to countries like Mozambique, to pay back the money he had allegedly
externalised when the police net closed in on him. This was done so that the
colleague would not be prosecuted.

When RBZ subsequently dispatched an
investigator to South Africa to verify the quality of the fertiliser, it was
discovered that there was no such factory - as had been claimed when a
certificate to export was given to the company based in
Tzaneen.

Instead, “the fertilizer was being mixed manually by labourers
with shovels on a platform at the old railway siding on the outskirts of
Tzaneen and …there were 4 piles of different blends plus bags of rose quartz
finely crushed to mix in the finished blend as was noticed at GMB
Aspindale”.

Mugabe recently lambasted corrupt officials in his party, but
analysts say he lacks the political will to take any action.

Onslaught
against farmers threatens future investment

Future investment in Zimbabwe remains under threat, because
of the ongoing campaign to remove all commercial farmers from their
land.

This week a farmer in Mashonaland West, Piet Zwanikken, was shot in
the face as part of efforts to force him to leave his farm. Zwanikken, a
Dutch national meant to be protected by an international agreement (BIPPA)
between Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, is still recovering in hospital from a
serious wound to his nose and cheek.

He has been fighting for his
property rights since January after his farm was gazetted for
‘redistribution’ by the Lands Ministry. But Zwanikken told SW Radio Africa
on Tuesday that he will do all he can to remain on his land.

This is not
easily done when the legal system is biased against the farming community.
On Friday another BIPPA protected farmer, this time a South African citizen,
faces losing his farm once and for all, after years of intimidation and
harassment.

Piet Henning, who has owned land in the Chiredzi district
since 1965, will be appearing in court on charges of illegally occupying
government land. Henning told a South African newspaper that Friday’s court
date is his “27th or 28th” appearance and he expects to be found
guilty.

The farm that the Land Ministry has gazetted for takeover is a
small portion of the original farm he was forced to give up as part of the
land grab campaign in 2003. Since 2008 Henning has been in and out of court
trying to secure the rights to his farm, but with little
success.

Former Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) President Deon Theron, who
was another victim of the land grab, told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that
until property rights and the rule of law are honoured in Zimbabwe, the
country can never recover.

“We desperately need new investment, but
investors need confidence and there is no confidence in placing any
investment in Zimbabwe. There are no property rights, there is only rule by
law, not rule of law,” Theron said.

Theron said the ongoing seizure of
land, which is being done under the guise of ‘indigenisation’, is “a
complete farce and a vote buying gimmick,” that does not benefit the
ordinary Zimbabwean. He said that hundreds of working Zimbabweans lose their
jobs every time a commercial farm is seized, “so there is only empowerment
of the few, not the masses.”

“We all know there is a role for
indigenisation, but if it’s done to garner votes or boost ZANU PF’s
popularity, then it will not work,” Theron said.

Media Alert From The Commercial Farmers' Union In Zimbabwe

Farmer
Shot in Banket

On 17 December 2012, Mr Piet Zvanikken of
Riverhead Farm, Banket, north west of Harare, was approached at
approximately 6.00 pm by three people who told him that tobacco was being
stolen from the barns.

He indicated that he did not want to go
down to the barns to check as it was late. Mr Zvanikken thanked him for the
information and turned around to go. The man then pulled out a pistol and
aimed for his head but shot him in his face with the bullet passing through
the cheek bone and nose.

Mr Zvanikken knows the identities of the
individuals and is treating this as an attempt on his life. He is a Dutch
national.

He is now in Avenues Clinic in Harare receiving
treatment and will have reconstructive surgery on his face and nose. He is
out of danger.

We are very disturbed by this incident of
attempted murder and urge our farmers to remain extremely vigilant at all
times.

Dutch Embassy Press Release on the shooting of Pieter Zwanikken

1. Late Monday afternoon (17.12.12) a
50-year-old Dutch man shot was shot in Banket, Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe.
The man is in the hospital.

2. The man has a farm where he grows
tobacco. Three armed men came to the farm to demand his harvest. When the
man refused, he was shot.

3. Two suspects have been
arrested.

4. The embassy in Harare has contact with the family of the
man and will visit him in hospital.

5. The embassy is in contact
with the police and has also drawn attention of other local authorities to
the case, including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Joint Monitoring
Commission, which examines cases of (political) violence in
Zimbabwe.

6. The ambassador had just visited the farm on 14.12.12
because it had been under threat to be taken over by others. The ambassador
had already intervened with the local authorities on behalf of this Dutch
investor.

7. The position of white farmers in Zimbabwe remains shaky.
Many thousands have lost their possessions, but still there are hundreds who
are active as farmers in Zimbabwe. Virtually all of them now work on smaller
pieces of land, sometimes no longer as owner, but only as a co-owner or as a
contractor.

8. At present, there are two other Dutch investors of
whom it is known that their investments are threatened.

9. The
Dutch embassy in Zimbabwe will pursue the interests of Dutch citizens and
businesses, amongst others by appealing to Zimbabwean authorities and by
supporting organizations that strive to combat (political) violence.

ZANU
PF is unelectable with Mugabe as presidential candidate

ZANU PF has already blown its chances of
winning the harmonized elections set for next year by fielding an
unelectable Robert Mugabe as their presidential candidate, a political
analyst has said.

Pedzisai Ruhanya, a director with the Zimbabwe
Democracy Institute said as a result of its failure to change its
leadership, the former ruling party is being ‘propelled into the wilderness
by political and economic plans that repel voters.’

Speaking on SW
Radio Africa’s Hidden Story program on Wednesday, Ruhanya predicted that
after 32 years in power, at which he presided over the worst economy in the
world, Robert Mugabe is now unelectable and so is ZANU PF.

‘Mugabe is
going to turn 89 in February next year and will become one of the oldest
political candidates to contest an election. Zimbabwe will reject him at the
ballot box. The inability to change its leadership will almost certainly
condemn ZANU PF to political history.

‘Zimbabweans cannot invest their
future into an 89 year-old candidate and this is a quandary for ZANU PF and
a huge problem for Mugabe and this is not opposition driven, it is self
inflicted,’ Ruhanya said.

He said Mugabe failed to implement the GPA
because that would also mean his defeat: ‘ZANU PF being aware that it has
survived for 32 years because of repressive media and security laws would
not dare implement the provisions of the GPA’

He emphasized that
Mugabe abuses, disregards and celebrates violence, which has seen him
survive for this long, including in his own party.

‘Violence is part of
ZANU PF’s DNA and this is why they say ZANU PF ndeyeropa (ZANU PF is for
blood). That is why in his own party Mugabe is not contested, he’s
intolerant to internal democratic processes.

‘Now….what do you think will
be his attitude when he is contested by a foreigner, someone outside ZANU
PF. If you look back to 2008, the results are there for everyone to see,’
observed Ruhanya.

March
poll push dead

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s dream for a March 2013 poll
is effectively dead and buried after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(Zec) requested at least three months to carry out a comprehensive voter
registration exercise.

Officials from Zec — the body mandated with
presiding over electoral processes in the country, last week met Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and minister of Justice and Legal Affairs,
Patrick Chinamasa and requested for urgent funding to kick-start a voter
registration blitz that would take three months to carry out.

William
Bango, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, said Zec’s request effectively means that
elections are impossible by March as envisaged by Zanu PF.

Mugabe, who is
in a coalition government with bitter rival Tsvangirai, and Welshman Ncube,
the Industry and Commerce minister and leader of the smaller MDC formation,
has been insisting that the country would go for an election before end of
March next year with or without a new constitution.

However, Zec’s
request for three months to register voters, notwithstanding that a
referendum is held or not, means Zimbabwe will not be ready for polls by end
of March.

“The fundamental thing that was discussed at the meeting, apart
from a revised Zec budget and the dropping-off of the delimitation of the
country’s constituencies, is that Zec requested three months in order to
register people.

“A decision was taken in that meeting that Zimbabwe
should embark on an intensive voter registration and voter confirmation
exercise contacted by Zec for three months,” said Bango.

Mugabe has
already told the courts the country will go for harmonised elections come
March in order to fulfil an obligation to hold by-elections in all vacant
seats that were left vacant either by deaths of incumbents or defections to
other political parties.

“The request from Zec basically scuttles the
March election. What that means is if we start registration on January 3, it
means it would end on the 3rd March then a proclamation of the electoral
dates must take place,” said Bango.

“If all things go well without
any delays an election is certainly not in March and maybe in the middle of
the year. The suggestion that Zec needs three months came from Zec itself,”
said Bango.

Joyce Kazembe, Zec acting chairperson whoattended the
meeting, however, said time needed for registration does not rest with the
body but with the Principals.

“This is an area that is beyond us. The
issue of time was discussed but those are principles that are not cast in
stone. They may be changed,” said Kazembe.

Zec, which is currently
broke and urgently needs at least $20 million to start the voter
registration blitz, should also procure indelible ink which will take eight
weeks to deliver.

Mugabe’s election point man Chinamasa, says it is
premature to fix election dates because a final constitutional draft is yet
to be completed owing to disagreements among coalition
partners.

“Everything depends on the finalisation of the
constitution-making process, so we cannot determine when the referendum and
elections will be held,” he said.

Ncube
ready for elections without new constitution

Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC,
says his party is ready to participate in elections even without a new
constitution. He was speaking on the side lines of a rally at Maboleni
business centre in Lower Gweru.

In a direct jibe at President Robert
Mugabe, who has been insisting on early elections since 2010, said his party
was ready for polls even if they were to be called next month.

Mugabe
is on record saying the two MDC formations are afraid of an early poll
because they are afraid of losing. During his party’s conference in Gweru a
fortnight ago, it was resolved that Mugabe should dissolve parliament and
fix dates for elections if the impasse on the new constitution is not broken
by Christmas.

The new constitution is expected to level the playing field
and guarantee the holding of free and fair elections by introducing key
reforms.

“We want to say to Mugabe we are not afraid of elections. If he
wants the polls in January or February we are ready,” Ncube told The
Zimbabwean.

He added that his party has resolved to go for the polls even
without a new constitution because it was unlikely that there would be a
breakthrough on the current draft document any time soon. “Zanu (PF) has
said either you agree to our amendments or go back to the old constitution
as a way of trying to factor in their impossible demands.

So our
position is that if it is not possible to have a democratic constitution,
then let’s have elections without a new constitution. We can always fight
for one after that exercise,” said Ncube. He reiterated that his party had
agreed to give in on some of Zanu (PF)’s demands but could not give in on
key matters.

“Zanu said they want separation of phrases like development
and empowerment in the constitution and we agreed. But we can’t accept to
delete fundamental issues,” said Ncube.

MDC-T and civil society are
adamant that elections can only be held after fundamental reforms and a new
constitution are in place. The pronouncement by Ncube on holding elections
without a new constitution is likely to complicate further the road map to a
new democratic dispensation, as it plays into Zanu (PF)’s hands by further
alienating his party from MDC-T and other smaller movements.

John
Makumbe, speaking in his capacity as a political scientist, described
Ncube’s position on having elections without a new constitution and reforms
as “dangerous”

“Ncube is shooting himself in the foot. Without the
full implementation of the Global Political Agreement, there is no guarantee
that what happened in 2008 will not recur. He is just politicking and I
would be surprised if his supporters agree with him,” said
Makumbe.

“Ncube seems to be saying what he said in order to spite
Tsvangirai. He wants to give the impression that he is his own man and
cannot define a position different from that of MDC-T,” he added. Ncube was
Secretary General under Tsvangirai in the formerly united MDC, but bad blood
has developed between the two since their split in 2005 over disagreements
relating to whether or not they should back the reintroduction of the Senate
that had been abolished in 2007.

Elections
not possible till 2015: academics

Academics here believe it is only practical to hold elections in
2015 as there are lot of processes to be put in place.

Dr
Lawton Hikwa also says 2015 perfect for electionsSpeaking at a public
meeting organised by Bulawayo Agenda recently, political analyst Ibbo
Mandaza said the country was not ready for elections until the new
constitution is completed.

“We can only have the elections practically in
2015 as we need to complete the constitution first and harmonise it with old
and new laws of the country,” he said. Mandaza emphasised that there was
still a long way in the completion of the new constitution which he labelled
as a ‘political deal’ meant to safeguard and promote the interests of
political parties.

“The constitution is a political deal which was merely
sold to the public. We need a constitution that is near perfect so as to
protect the citizens from having another Mugabe –like leader in the future,”
he said. NUST Faculty of Communication and Social Sciences, Lawton Hikwa,
said there was need for reforms first before any talk of
elections.

“We cannot talk about elections without the reforms as spelt
out in the GPA, especially media reforms as the media is a major player in
promoting any democratisation process through the free flow of information,”
said Hikwa.

“The challenge is that we have politicians developing
policies and attempting to implement them but failing dismally as they have
political ideologies and interest to protect. What we need are technocrats
who will occupy ministerial positions and serve the nation without
compromise,” he said. Zanu (PF) has strongly dismissed institutional reforms
especially in the media and the security sectors, which have underpinned
their stay in power over past three decades.

There were calls for the
Cabinet to be composed of technocrats instead of Members of Parliament like
in countries such as the United States of America and Kenya.

Zimbabwe
population growth slows, 3 million fled in a decade of political, economic
turmoil

HARARE,
Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s official statistics agency says the nation’s
population rose to 12.9 million in the past decade but the annual growth
rate declined to a low of 1.1 percent. Average growth stood at about 3
percent before political turmoil and an economic meltdown beginning in 1998
drove more than 3 million Zimbabweans abroad as economic fugitives and
asylum seekers, according to United Nations and World Bank
reports.

The state Zimstats office, releasing first results of a new
census, did not acknowledge the absentees Wednesday, saying its tally was
based on Zimbabweans living in the country on the night of Aug. 18. It said
households have declined to an average of 4.2 members.

The last
census in 2002 gave the population as 11.6 million, mainly in households of
more than six.

Bulawayo
City Council trashes census results

THE Bulawayo City Council is disputing the census
results showing the city having far less than 1 million people, and being
the least populated.

Preliminary data released this week said while the
national population rose marginally to 12,9 million over the past 10 years,
Bulawayo’s count fell from 750 000 to 655 675, or 5 percent of the national
population.

But like many Bulawayo residents and activists, city mayor
Patrick Thaba Moyo isn’t convinced.

“It is surprising that our
population would go down when the cost of providing housing in the city is
going up, Moyo told NewsDay. "The last time (2002) it was 750 000 and now it
is 655 675.”

“We are worried that we have never had the population of
Bulawayo going up considering that Bulawayo is a city where many people
across tribes and race prefer to settle in.

“Our census has never
reached 1 million (officially), although as Bulawayo, we have always
budgeted for 1, 5 million people,” he added.

The census findings may have
serious policy implications for the second city, activists
say.

Harare was found to be the most populous, accounting for 16 percent
with 2, 098 199 people.

Manicaland Province is second with 1, 755 000
or 14 percent. Midlands is third at 13 percent, which translates to 1, 622
476 people.

Masvingo and Mashonaland West are tied at 11 percent, with 1,
486 604 and 1, 449 938 people, respectively.

Mashonaland Central’s
population stands at 1, 139 940, or 9 percent.

Matabeleland North has 6
percent or 743 871, while Matabeleland South - the least populated after
Bulawayo, has 685 046 people or 5 percent.

Zim
govt slammed for live elephant exports to China

Zimbabwe’s government is facing serious criticism for
allowing the export of live elephants to China, with accusations that entire
families of elephant are being ‘destroyed’.

According to the Zimbabwe
Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) four juvenile elephants were exported last
month, in a journey that included a 12 hour drive in the back of a truck
from Hwange to Harare, before being shipped by air for 10 hours to Dubai.
From Dubai the animals were then flown to Beijing.

ZCTF chairman
Johnny Rodrigues told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that, “the fact that
these elephants are juveniles indicates that they are being taken away from
their mothers, and family units are therefore being destroyed.” He explained
that the family links within elephant herds are very strong and removing the
very young is devastating to a herd.

Another 14 juvenile elephants are
reportedly being held at Hwange, also awaiting exportation in January 2013.
The ZCTF said in a report that the final destinations of the elephants are
two zoos in China.

“Some elephants do not survive the stress caused by
such long trips, not to mention the fact that the ones that do survive will
be subjected to a life of captivity in a habitat they are not born to live
in,” Rodrigues said.

Rodrigues had strong words for the government’s
wildlife authorities, who he said “are meant to be the guardians of our
wildlife.”

“We already have a poaching problem and we believe the
authorities are now in business with the same poaching syndicates to export
live animals. So the people who are meant to be protecting wildlife are the
same perpetrators,” Rodrigues said.

He also dismissed the
government’s repeated arguments that Zimbabwe is ‘overpopulated’ with
elephant, explaining how no audits have been done in recent years to support
this claim. Rodrigues argued that rampant poaching has decimated the
elephant population and more should be done to protect the
animals.

“The whole world should stand against what is happening and
be the guardians of these majestic animals. Because one day there won’t be
any left if this keeps happening,” Rodrigues warned.

We have received a very disturbing report
that on the 25th November 2012, 4 elephants were exported to Bejing. The
elephants were transported by road, a trip that took 12 hours from Hwange to
Harare Airport where they were loaded onto an Air Emirates aeroplane and flown
to Dubai. This flight took 10 hours and from Dubai, they are allegedly being
flown to Bejing.

The total weight of the elephants was 3,9
tons which implies they were very young and the handling was done by AGS. The
fact that these elephants are juveniles indicates that they are being taken away
from their mothers and family units are therefore being destroyed. It is further
reported that another 14 elephants are being held in a boma in Hwange, also
awaiting exportation in January 2013. It is said that the final destinations of
the elephants are 2 zoos in China.

We are very concerned because we believe
this constitutes cruelty to animals. Some elephants do not survive the stress
caused by such long trips, not to mention the fact that the ones that do survive
will subjected to a life of captivity in a Chinese zoo.

It is a well known fact that Zimbabwe has a
serious poaching problem and to compound that, live animals are also being sent
out of the country.

He urged motorists to
exercise caution especially at this time of the year when volumes of traffic
swell on the roads.

Some 147 people died during last year’s festive
season, and Chakanza cautions the number of casualties could rise this
year.

“From 15 December we have so far recorded 183 road accidents, 25 of
which were fatal leading to 34 deaths and 160 injuries.”

“At this
rate the figures could surpass last year’s where there were 118 fatal
accidents, 1 304 injuries and 147 deaths from a total of 1, 785 accidents
countrywide during the 30-day [festive season] period,” Chakanza
said.

Police say the number of crashes recorded between January and
October this year reached 28 929 compared to 26 500 during the same period
last year.

They blame human error for most of the crashes, including
speeding and ill-timed overtaking.

And to ease the prevalence,
Chakanza urged motorists to stick to speed limits and avoid overtaking on
blind spots such as bends and uphill slopes.

Faulty vehicles will not be
allowed on the roads, the police spokesman said, adding there will be a
heavy deployment of police to deal with traffic regulation
violators.

“We want to remind people that we are getting into a busy
holiday on the roads because of increased volume of traffic, and we
encourage motorists to make sure that their vehicles are serviced and in
good condition to avoid breakdowns and accidents.

“They should also
ensure their vehicles have necessary documents to avoid delays at
roadblocks. These include vehicle and passenger insurance, vehicle and
drivers’ licenses, fitness test certificates and radio licences,” said
Chakanza.

He added that there will be zero-tolerance for overloading,
especially by public passenger vehicles.

“Operators should ensure
that drivers carry the specified number of people per vehicle and we would
want to appeal to passengers as well to inform police when vehicles they
would be travelling in are overloaded.”

The police traffic department is
currently running a public campaign to promote road safety under the theme
“Drive Safe, Arrive Alive.” The awareness started December 15 and runs
through January 15.

“We are distributing pamphlets with phone numbers of
police stations including the police headquarters so that people report any
form of behaviour like drunken driving, corruption and bribery which are
likely to cause accidents,” Chakanza said.

“We do not condone
corruption and we want to appeal to motorists not to give bribes to police.
Otherwise we as police would want to wish everyone a Merry and accident-free
Christmas so we all get into the New Year healthy.”

Chakunza urged owners
of public vehicles not to overwork drivers and ensure that tyres are in good
condition.

Zimbabwe has some of the most dangerous roads in the
region that many call "death traps."

MDC-T
declares Adam Ndlovu a national hero

The MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on
Wednesday declared the late Highlanders and national team legend Adam Ndlovu
a national hero, in recognition of his ‘unstinting contribution to football
in Zimbabwe.’

This was decided following a full MDC national council
meeting in Harare. This symbolic gesture has been greatly welcomed by the
Ndlovu family who announced that Adam will be buried at Lady Stanley
cemetery on Saturday.

The 42 year-old Chicken Inn FC coach died together
with Nomqhele Tshili, 24, in the crash near Victoria Falls that left his
brother Peter critically injured. It has been confirmed Nomqhele was Peter’s
girlfriend.

Peter underwent a successful operation on Wednesday to insert
pins in both his fractured legs. He also broke some ribs in the horrific
crash, but is expected to fully recover.

In a statement the MDC-T,
whose MPs and top leadership are keen sportsmen, sent consolations to the
Ndlovu family.

‘The party wishes Peter Ndlovu a speedy recovery. Further,
in recognition of Adam’s unstinting contribution to the Zimbabwe football
fraternity, the Party declares Adam Ndlovu a national hero,’ the statement
said.

A friend of the Ndlovu family told SW Radio Africa they had been
been overwhelmed by the gesture and recognition coming from Tsvangirai’s
party.

‘This comes at a time when the family and whole country are still
trying to come to terms with the shocking death of Adam,’ the family friend
said.

On Tuesday, the family finally broke the news of Adam’s death to
Peter and this left him shattered.

There will be a church service for
Adam on Friday at Luveve stadium where everyone is invited to attend. There
will also be a funeral procession in Bulawayo, which will be led by the
Highlanders football club.

Council
in $5,4m tender row

HARARE - The
Harare City Council (HCC) is in the eye of a $5,4 million “roads and garbage
truck” tender storm, as one of its lead suppliers has been struggling to
meet its end of the bargain, and fulfil the key mandate.

With Paul
Chenjerai’s Paza Buster winning a bid to supply a majority of the 27 utility
vehicles needed by Muchadeyi Masunda’s municipality, delays over the
five-month project have allegedly angered some councillors in the MDC-led
local authority.

However, the defiant Harare businessman told the
WeekendPost last week that he would meet the HCC’s December 31
deadline.

“I have delivered five vehicles so far (and) seven more are in
the country waiting delivery. Council is the one to blame (for delaying to
give me the tender,” Chenjerai said.

“I was supposed to get the
tender in May, but council released it end of August. These are special
vehicles manufactured abroad. They are manufactured per order (and) it is
unfortunate that some people think I have failed, no, I am
delivering.”

According to documents, Chenjerai’s share of the spoils is
not only in the region of $3 million, but he tendered at a much higher price
of $202 000 per truck as compared to other bidders.

Victor Chifodya,
the HCC’s procurement board chairperson insists the company had won them
over on a 24-month payment-free after sales service plan, says they were
miffed by Paza Buster’s dilly-dallying.

“This person (Paza) has been
promising to deliver the vehicles for quite some time. He has been telling
us never-ending stories.

“He was supposed to deliver 27 refuse trucks
(and) we only hear he has delivered one. He was supposed to deliver the
whole consignment, but he has not done so,” he said.

The complaints
come as a probe team appointed by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo
has rapped Masunda’s Council for mishandling key procurement mandates, in a
city or jurisdiction handling over $400 million worth of procurement jobs
annually.

“Councillors lack depth in what is required of them. They seem
to be drowning and their decisions are based on personal benefits,” claimed
the Ellen Chivaviro-led team.

“We feel they should look at technical
issues and capacity. At the end of the day, you find those who would have
been given the tenders have no capacity to supply,” it said.

Although
HCC has also taken the flak for undertaking key projects over $300 000
without going through the State Procurement Board, independent observers
also say the agency itself lacks capacity to handle the council’s
procurement needs.

Regional banking group BancABC is bankrolling the
facility to retool the Council fleet.

In recent years, the bank has
also extended or provided similar facilities to Zimbabwe’s biggest
municipality, in efforts to augment its fleet. — WeekendPost

Released
Glen View activist “rejuvenated”

An activist from the MDC-T who was released from Chikurubi
maximum security prison on Tuesday, after ten months in jail, has told SW
Radio Africa that she feels “rejuvenated” and happy to be with her
family.

Linda Musiyamhanje and 20 others, accused of murdering a Glen
View cop last year, walked out on bail just in time to celebrate the
holidays and were welcomed by MDC-T supporters and officials outside their
Harvest House headquarters.

Five more remain in jail after being
denied bail as flight risks. With the courts closed till next year, they
will have to spend Christmas and New Years’ holidays in jail.

Linda
said her release came as a surprise because she had given up hope of being
freed before Christmas. She said although there was no evidence against her,
she is not angry and will continue to fight for democracy in
Zimbabwe.

“They don’t have any evidence at all against all the
accused persons. They just wanted us to stop being MDC activists. But we are
not going to give up. They have made us grow and mature politically,” Linda
said.

The police say officer Petros Mutedza was killed by MDC-T activists
who held a meeting at a local Glen View pub. But the MDC-T insists many of
their supporters were not at the pub the day Mutedza died. They say the
arrests were politically motivated and meant to destroy MDC-T structures. A
total of 29 party members were arrested at the time.

The Youth
Assembly chairman , Solomon Madzore, and two others were granted bail last
month.

The MDC-T Youth Assembly is demanding the release of the last five
activists who were denied bail. The five still detained are Last Maengahama,
Tungamirai Madozkere, Rebecca Mafikeni, Yvonne Musarurwa and Simon
Mapanzure.

The call came from Clifford Hlatywayo, spokesperson for
the MDC-T Youth Assembly. He told SW Radio Africa that no evidence was
presented in court to warrant the five being denied bail. He said they are
being persecuted because of their political affiliation.

“There is no
reason why Justice Bhunu should say the five are flight risks, yet all of
them were on bail before. The circumstances were the same for all the
accused. This generally shows the political affiliation of the judicial
system,” Hlatywayo said.

He added: “We seriously condemn this move
and call for their release. We call for their freedom. Once again we
reiterate that their continued incarceration is political, and not criminal.
It is ZANU PF’s tricks.”

Two other MDC-T youth officials have also been
charged in connection with Mutedza’s death. Tarirai Kusotera and Jackson
Mabota were arrested in late October and were held in detention for a month
before being released on bail.The two are being tried separately from
the original Glen View 29. Their case will also resume in the New Year.

Call to
screen bottled water

A Chitungwiza businessman has called
upon the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to screen bottled water being
sold on the market to ensure that only quality water gets to the people.Mr
Sydney Farirai,

who recently established a state-of-the-art water
bottling plant at Chikwanha Shopping Centre, said on Monday that bottled
water not certified by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe should be
removed from the market.

“Those who want to buy quality water must look
at the label that shows them the quality of water and that it meets the SAZ
standards,” he said.

“I got interested in establishing a water bottling
plant after reports that some of the bottled water being sold in Chitungwiza
was of poor quality.

Tap Water“Some people had gone to the extent of
bottling tap water.”

Mr Farirai, who is the managing director of Bobby
Enterprises, said the water bottling plant the company established about two
months ago had the capacity to produce 20 000 litres of water a day.He
said the company offers some of the water to Chitungwiza Central Hospital
for free so that patients can drink quality water.

“They can bring
containers to collect the water for their patients for free,” he
said.“We also allow residents to fetch water from our boreholes whose water
was certified by SAZ before even being purified.”

Mr Farirai said his
company would soon establish water bottling plants in other cities and
border towns, starting with Bulawayo.

Bobby Enterprises has another water
bottling plant in Nyanga.The plant at Chikwanha has a computerised water
purification system that has filters for sand and carbon and a water
softener.

BacteriaThe company also uses oxidation to remove odours
and pollutants and disinfecting bacteria and viruses.

There has been
an outcry from consumers in recent months over the presence of bottled water
on the market that does not meet standards.

In fact, the Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare recently warned consumers against taking bottled
water without verifying its quality.

PM bemoans abuse of justice

Harare- PRIME Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has said that Zanu (PF) is abusing its overbearing
influence on the country’s judicial system to persecute his party
supporters.

Tsvangirai made the remarks at the MDC-T’s headquarters
in the capital while addressing 21 of the party’s activists who were
released on bail in a case in which they are being accused of murdering a
police officer in Glen View in May last year.

The justice ministry is
headed by Patrick Chinamasa, a top Zanu (PF) member, while Johannes Tomana,
the Attorney General, is also a self-confessed sympathiser of the
party.

Augustine Chihuri, the Police Commissioner General, is also a
member of Zanu (PF), together with the more influential Co-Minister of Home
Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, and there are concerns that judges are appointed
along partisan lines.

The 21 activists were granted bail yesterday by
High Court Judge, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, who said that the state’s case
had “weaknesses and inconsistencies”.

As part of their bail
conditions the activists, most of whom paid $500, were ordered to report
twice a week at Glen View Police Station.

However, five others were
denied bail after Bhunu ruled that they were a “flight risk”.

“There
has never been a legal case here. It has been mere persecution rather than
prosecution. If it was prosecution, what could have taken so long to grant
these people bail,” said Tsvangirai.

He said that the selective
application of the law in Zimbabwe had led to many MDC-T activists being
arrested on trumped up charges.

“In this country we are very unfortunate
that there is a deliberate selective application of the law and our
supporters are being accused of anything,” said Tsvangirai.

He said
his party would continue to fight until justice prevailed for the murder
suspects.

“You are out on bail but you are not yet free. As a party, we
shall continue fighting until justice prevails,” he said.

Tsvangirai
expressed concern over the filthy conditions in the country’s
prisons.

“You need to be very strong to stay in those prisons. I was
there in 2008 when things were very hard and I saw people dying because they
were malnourished,” said Tsvangirai.

Meanwhile, there was jubilation
at Harare Remand Prison on Tuesday following the release of the MDC-T
activists.

Relatives of the activists could not contain their joy as the
alleged murderers walked out from remand prison.

The crowd, led by
MDC-T Youth Assembly Chairperson, Solomon Madzore, burst into song and
ululation before heading to Harvest House where Tsvangirai addressed them.

Zimrights
officers arrested... 'Intruders' planted documents

Four ZimRights officials accused of forgery and fraud
appeared at the Harare magistrates court on Tuesday and were remanded in
police custody, after the State applied for time to research on submissions
presented by the defence counsel. The matter continues today.

The
state, represented by Area Prosecutor, Jonathan Murombedzi and Michael Reza,
said it needed time to study bail submissions made by defence lawyers, since
the accused were facing serious charges.

Human rights lawyers led by
Trust Maanda denied the charges and described them as baseless and void of
evidence on which the state can prosecute.

“These are frivolous charges
by the state. My clients deny ever possessing the mentioned documents and
the state has failed to provide evidence before the courts to support its
case.

“In fact, one of my clients was actually abducted by some militia
in the absence of police. The militia did not search her house but actually
ransacked it. She was also thoroughly beaten up. I am advised that when the
militia arrived at her place, they had some unidentified objects in the
hands,” said Maanda.

He added that, an “intruder” also raided another
accused’s place and failed to identify himself, subsequently emerging
holding mysterious documents that he claimed to have obtained from the
house.

He said police failed to bring credible evidence before the
courts, save for a blank white copy which meant nothing at all. “Evidence
must be brought before the courts in a complete manner. The accused should
also be taken to the site of search and an inventory has to be made. Nothing
of that sort was ever done in this respect. The state is simply trying to
lie in this case,” said Maanda.

Maanda said reasons given by the
state to deny bail were a mockery to the judicial system.

“Surely,
how can a respected court of law deny the accused bail on the grounds that
they will be unlawfully attacked by war veterans if they are let free? Under
normal circumstances, the detained innocent would be granted his liberty,
while the known violent war veterans would be brought to justice,” said
Maanda.

The defence lawyers applied for $50 bail each, accompanied with
reporting instructions. It challenged the state to speed up the process
‘since innocent people’s liberty was at stake.”

Minister
upbeat over Air Zimbabwe audit

AIR ZIMBABWE is undergoing an audit by the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) to determine if the national airline in now fit
to fly international skys.

Deputy Minister of Transport and
Communication Infrastructural Development Morgan Komichi says he has his
fingered crossed fo a IATA thumbs up.

"The last time they came, they
could not do much as the airline's staff was on strike," he
said.

"This time there is no strike and we hope they will be assisted
accordingly as we look forward to seeing Air Zimbabwe resume international
flights," said Komichi.

IATA is a global aviation body that works
with airlines and the air transport industry to promote safe, reliable,
secure and economical air travel for the benefit of travelers.

The
body conducts a biennial Operational Safety Audit, which measures an
airline’s system of operations, covering the operation of flights, boarding
procedures and other aircraft safetymatters.

To retain IATA
membership, members must submit and pass the audit.

Air Zimbabwe was
suspended from IATA in September for failing to comply with global safety
standards.

At that time, Transport Minister Nicholas Goche said the
national airline had been given a grace period of up to November 30 2012 to
comply with the standards.

If it fails to meet the deadline, Air
Zimbabwe will be banned from using international airports and air spaces of
other countries forever.

Said Minister Goche in September: “Air Zimbabwe
is at the moment suspended from IATA. However, the national airline was
given up to November 30 to carry out the audits.

"The letter we
received is not that bad as they were encouraging us to comply with global
safety standards and this we are going to do,” he said.

Auditors visited
Zimbabwe early this year but there was nothing to audit as the airline’s
workers were on strike.

The audit, done after every two years, is carried
out by firms accredited to IATA at the expense of the national airline
seeking certification.

The auditors, who come from various countries
worldwide, include experts in the global aviation industry such as aircraft
engineers, pilots, accountants and cargo operators who are former senior
airline workers.

Zimbabwe
bid to buy SA coins from Common Monetary Area

Zimbabwe is asking if it can purchase South
African coins for use in commerce, but since Zimbabwe is not a member of the
Common Monetary Area the South African Reserve Bank has yet decide on the
request.The CMA is a monetary union comprised of Lesotho, South Africa, and
Swaziland. Namibia was been a member of the CMA, but withdrew from the
organization in 1993. Botswana is also formerly a member, but replaced the
South African rand with the pula in 1976.

Today the Namibian dollar
is on par with the South African rand. Swaziland’s lilangeni and Lesothos’s
loti currency is also on par with the rand, however the rand can circulate
freely in these two nations, while it cannot in Namibia or
Botswana.

As of late November, when this article was being written, SARB
officials said discussions with Zimbabwe were ongoing. Hlengani Mathebula is
the head of the SARB strategy and communication department. According to
Mathebula, “Zimbabwe is not a member of the Common Monetary Area (CMA), but
there are conversations that are happening with regards to the coins
issue.A decision has to be made at the highest level beyond the two central
banks and that decision would be communicated.”

Zimbabwe’s currency
is a problem. When the Zimbabwe dollar was introduced in 1980 it was
considered to be one of the highest valued currency units in Africa. Due to
continuing political crisis and hyperinflation the currency degenerated into
one of the least valued currency units in the world.

The currency was
revalued in 2006, 2008, and in 2009. On April 12, 2009, the Zimbabwe dollar
was officially abandoned. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe legalized the
Botswana pula, British pound, European Union euro, South African rand, and
the U.S. dollar for all domestic transactions. Officially Zimbabwe currency
will only be reintroduced if industrial output improves.

Zimbabwe had
issued 1-, 5-, 10-, 20-, and 50-cents as well as a Z$1 coin in 1980. A Z$2
coin was added to this in 1997, and a Z$5 denomination in 2001. In June 2005
Zimbabwe announced it was planning new Z$5,000- and Z$10,000-coins for
circulation, but this never materialized. New Z$10 and Z$25 coins were
introduced in 2008. The value of Zimbabwe’s coinage became confused due to
their continued use even following each of the three currency
redenominations.

Zimbabwe began experiencing a coinage crisis once the
domestic currency system was abandoned in 2009. Retailers often give clients
credit notes or candy as change. During 2011 banks repatriated coins with a
face value totaling about 8 million rand as retailers resisted purchasing
them even though banks offered retailers prevailing rand-U,S. dollar
exchange rates.

South Africa’s coins have only carried the name of the
nation in one of it’s 11 official languages since 1994. Although inflation
in South Africa pales when compared to that of Zimbabwe, in March 2002 1-
and 2-cent coins ceased being issued due to their low purchasing power. (The
two coins are still legal tender, but are seldom seen in circulation.) All
cash transactions were to be rounded to the nearest 5 cents. On April 1,
2012, the 5-cent coin met the same fate for the same reason, with cash
transactions now being rounded to the nearest 10 cents.

In recent
years South Africa has added higher denomination circulating coins to its
currency system, these being the 2 and the 5 rand.

According to
Mathebula, there has been resistance to the acceptance of newly redesigned
South African bank notes in Zimbabwe as well. These notes feature former
South African President Nelson Mandela.

Ironically Mathebula noted,
“There is high demand for new notes as some people are framing the notes.”

Kunonga
surrenders

HARARE -
The beleaguered excommunicated Archbishop of the Anglican Church of
Zimbabwe, Nolbert Kunonga says his church will abide by the court ruling to
surrender all Anglican Church property to the Church of the Province of
Central Africa (CPCA).He however said his church will continue with its
operations at various locations around the country.

Reverend Admire
Chisango, who is the church’s spokesperson, told journalists in Harare that
the Kunonga led church respects the judgement by the court but stressed that
the ruling does not mean his church is disbanded.

“The Anglican Church of
Zimbabwe is still alive and kicking but continues to differ with CPCA on
their doctrine which supports homosexuality,” said Reverend
Chisango.

He dismissed all rape allegations laid on the Kunonga led
church, describing them as unfounded.

Probed by reporters over his
personal feeling over the unfolding events in the church, Archibishop
Kunonga said he had delegated all the duties to his juniors.

The
Supreme Court of Zimbabwe last month ruled in favour of the CPCA led by
Bishop Chad Gandiya and ordered the Kunonga group to surrender all church
property.

Mugabe
stuck with Zuma

HARARE - President
Robert Mugabe will remain saddled with the tough mediation of South African
President Jacob Zuma after the African National Congress (ANC) retained the
Zimbabwean crisis mediator as party leader.

Zuma’s re-election at the
party’s congress yesterday effectively means he will remain Sadc’s key man
to Zimbabwe, which is heading towards a watershed general election next
year.

Mugabe and his Zanu PF party have warmly embraced Zuma’s rivals
such as expelled ANC youth leader Julius Malema in a clear sign of their
unhappiness with Zuma’s insistence on Zimbabwe creating conditions for a
free election.

Close Mugabe allies such as political flip-flopper
Jonathan Moyo have also repeatedly shown disdain for Zuma, with some quietly
praying for him to lose the ANC election to deputy president Kgalema
Motlanthe.

Although Zuma’s term as President of South Africa will end in
18 months, political dynamics in the mineral-rich country point to the fact
that the leader of the ANC will continue leading the country due to ANC’s
massive command of the majority support. This means Zuma is likely to lead
South Africa well beyond that country’s 2014 election, giving him space to
oversee Zimbabwe’s transition.

In a recent interview with a British
newspaper, Zuma did not mince his words saying while Mugabe was a liberation
war comrade, the quest for a democratic Zimbabwe where the people’s vote is
respected is the primary focus.

Zuma said although Zanu PF and the ANC
share the same revolutionary roots, he does not give preferential treatment
to the 88-year-old strongman when he meditates in Zimbabwe’s long-drawn
political crisis.

“I deal with issues as they come as the ANC and as an
individual. What we need in Zimbabwe is to ensure that Zimbabwe is
democratic, that’s why we talk to all of them (Zimbabwean politicians), let
the Zimbabwean people decide which party leads them. We can’t interfere,”
said Zuma recently.

On Mugabe’s propaganda that the MDC is a stooge of
the West, Zuma said:

“We don’t say that in the ANC. Much as it is true
that we come from the liberation movement with Mugabe, but that to us does
not give anyone a licence to mishandle his country, so if at all there was
mishandling of the country we’d be critical,” he said in the
interview.

Although Zuma has publicly denied any major rift between him
and Mugabe, his mediation has been a pain for Zanu PF, some party officials
have admitted.

Deviating from predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, who employed
“quiet diplomacy” to deal with Mugabe’s intransigence, Zuma has been a
constant thorn in the flesh to Zanu PF.

He has repeatedly insisted
that Zimbabwe government partners fully implement the power-sharing Global
Political Agreement (GPA), the founding accord of the fragile coalition
government.

Zuma and his team have also repeatedly dismissed Zanu PF
moves to sabotage the constitution-writing process and call an election
under the current Lancaster House Constitution.

This has seen Zanu PF
moving closer to the anti-Zuma lobby fronted by Malema, who was in the
country recently.

Malema, who says he views Mugabe as a hero, whose ideas
should be tried in South Africa, has told local state media that Zuma
“hates” Mugabe despite pretences of friendship.

In turn, Mugabe’s
Zanu PF has become like a second home for Malema.

In the past, top Zanu
PF leaders have reinforced the Malema sentiment that “Zuma hates Mugabe” and
have publicly attacked his mediation on the Zimbabwean crisis.

Others
such as Moyo have suggested Zuma and his mediation team are driving a United
States regime change agenda to push Mugabe out through Sadc
mediation.

The ANC on its part has expressed serious reservations on
Malema and Zanu PF’s relationship, which the party fears could be used to
destabilise Africa’s biggest economy.

Security forces deployed as historians

The security services
remain under the control of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party

HARARE, 19 December 2012 (IRIN) -
Security forces are being deployed across Zimbabwe ostensibly to record accounts
of the country’s liberation struggle against white-minority rule, but both
political parties and independent analysts view the tactic as a prelude to
political violence ahead of next year’s scheduled elections.

In
the aftermath of the violent 2008 polls, a government of national unity was
formed between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and two wings of the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC). It was decreed that both presidential and
parliamentary elections would be held simultaneously between March and October
2013. But no date has yet been set for the elections, and no referendum on the
adoption of a new constitution - a prerequisite for the polls - has been
held.

Mugabe
has been president since the country’s 1980 independence from Britain, and, in
accordance with the 2009 unity government agreement, ZANU-PF has retained
control of all security portfolios.

Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has told local media the Military History Research
Project is an urgent issue. “People must know where this country came from and
how we got our freedom. The process of capturing this vital historical
information and events is a race against time, as people who have this
information in their memories are dying. With the passage of time, the memories
naturally fade away or get distorted with age,” he said.

The
ZANU-PF project involves the deployment of soldiers as well as “historians and
researchers” to interview people - such as traditional leaders, chiefs, headmen
and veterans of the liberation war - about pre- and post-independence military
history.

The
deployment of security forces comes after senior military commanders declared
they would not serve under any government that was not led by ZANU-PF.

Sticker
campaign

Meanwhile,
ZANU-PF is embarking on a strategy to visually identify which households support
the party.

ZANU-PF
chairman for Masvingo Province, Lovemore Matuke, told local media, “You are
supposed to have stickers at every household so that we identify you. Our real
supporters should have stickers at their homes. If you do not have that sticker
at your place, you will be skipped,”

Being “skipped” is thought to mean that those without the
markers will be ineligible for agricultural inputs, such as the seed and
fertilizer being distributed in a recently launched ZANU-PF
initiative.

ZANU-PF
wants to remind voters of the role played by the military in the presidential
election run-off [in 2008] in which hundreds of people were butchered or
maimed

But Pedzisai Ruhanya, director of Zimbabwe Democracy
Institute (ZDI), an independent research organisation, told IRIN, “The two
exercises [the history project and sticker campaign] are simply designed to
harvest fear from the electorate. ZANU-PF wants to remind voters of the role
played by the military in the presidential election run-off [in 2008] in which
hundreds of people were butchered or maimed.”

The
2008 poll saw ZANU-PF lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since
independence and forced a second round of voting in the presidential race. MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the running to protest the political
violence.

Ruhanya
said insisting on stickers to show support for ZANU-PF would make those who did
not comply vulnerable to political violence. “Deploying soldiers in rural areas
just before elections is an excuse for intimidating voters, while the claim of
conducting research is ludicrous. Are soldiers researchers? Are soldiers authors
of history books? Are soldiers historians?” he said.

Spokesperson
for MDC Douglas Mwonzora told IRIN, “This is not genuine research which is being
conducted. It is a tactic of intimidation in which war memories are going to be
revived, including the 2008 trauma in which the military campaigned for ZANU-PF.
History is not written by soldiers but by scholars and historians.”

War
veterans

Mwonzora
said, “We wait to see what they will do about marking people’s houses, but the
national and international community should not allow that. At this point, we
will hope the statement was just a wild remark made by some crazy party
official.”

Major Mark Mbayiwa, a retired soldier and liberation war
veteran, told IRIN there were two possible explanations for the security force
deployment.

“The
first reason could be that there could be a genuine desire to record the
country’s military history, given that it has not been properly recorded and
that ZANU-PF realizes they will not be in power after elections and they feel
that this is the time to correctly record history.

“The
second possibility, which is most likely, is that they want to use that as an
excuse to intimidate people ahead of elections. These are typical ZANU-PF
[election] tactics.”

Jabulani
Sibanda, chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA), denied his members were involved in political
violence.

“What
needs to be understood is that, as freedom fighters, we fought against a
violent, cruel and evil system of colonialism, and as such, it would be foolish
to associate us with violence. While I may support ZANU-PF, I do not tell people
to beat anybody up. Why do people question my support for ZANU-PF when
descendants of colonialists in Zimbabwe are being funded by western
countries?”

[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Operations
at New Zim Steel to resume next month

OPERATIONS at New Zim Steel are expected
to resume next month after Cabinet guaranteed the investor that the initial
deal signed between the Government and Essar Group stands.

This
brings relief to over 3 000 workers who have gone for almost a year without
salaries after the investor suspended payments in March this year. The
investor, who is apparently impressed by the latest arrangement, reportedly
agreed to pay the workers before Christmas.

Industry and Commerce
Minister Welshman Ncube said the Essar Group had requested a Cabinet
guarantee that there would be no changes to the original deal signed between
the Government and Essar last year.

“This was sparked by statements that
were attributed to (Gift) Chimanikire (Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining
Development) in the media recently that they were not going to give New Zim
Minerals iron ore claims at Mwanesi,” said Minister Ncube.

According
to the original deal, Essar Group would take 53 percent of New Zim Steel
(former Ziscosteel-manufacturing arm) and 80 percent of New Zim Minerals
(former Buchwa Iron Mining Company – mining arm) while the Government takes
the remaining shares in both firms.

Minister Chimanikire recently told
The Herald that his ministry was not going to “give away” mining claims at
Mwanesi Ranch that have rich ore deposits. He said there was a need to avoid
a monopoly by giving other players an opportunity to mine iron ore at
Mwanesi in Chivhu.

Said Minister Ncube: “The investor then requested that
the Office of the President writes to them telling them the correct
position. Their problem was that Government was speaking in so many contrary
voices.

“The Office of the President and Cabinet then wrote to Essar
Group last week Tuesday telling them that the Cabinet decision of September
10 this year confirming the agreement of March last year was going to
stand.”

“The Essar people then responded to us this morning (yesterday)
expressing their happiness with the Chief Secretary’s letter (Dr Misheck
Sibanda). What we have now agreed is that we will have ameeting between
Essar, ourselves and our colleagues in the Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development to finalise all the issues to do with joint exploration and the
transfer of mining rights to New Zim Minerals.

“We are hoping to have
that meeting before the end of this month,” said Minister Ncube. He said his
ministry had been negotiating with Essar Group to pay workers some money
ahead of the festive season.

“They (Essar) are sympathetic to the
workers’ cause so in principle they have agreed to pay the workers some
money before the Christmas holidays so that they can go to the holidays with
something,” said Minister Ncube.

“The position is that
Cabinet made a resolution a long time ago and that has since been
communicated to Essar. As far as the ministry is concerned whatever decision
is made by Cabinet is the final decision and that is what we do.

“We
will follow the Cabinet resolution that was made sometime in
September.

“We are now expecting them to resume operations because for a
long time they have been waiting for us to make a decision (on iron ore
claims) and now that the decision has been made, they should start
operations soon,” said Deputy Minister Bimha.

The deal at one point
hit a brickwall after Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu
expressed reservations with the 80 percent shareholding of iron ore reserves
by New Zim Minerals.

He said the deal was supposed to be revisited
because Essar Group would pay only US$700 million for resources worth over
US$30 billion.

Minister Mpofu told a Parliamentary Committee that iron
ore reserves in Mwanesi near Chivhu, which are supposed to be controlled by
Essar Group under the agreement, had a cumulative value of US$30
billion.

Government recently endorsed the implementation matrix that was
agreed to by the Government and the Essar Group management.

It is now
up to the Essar Group board to give a position on the matrix. Government,
Minister Ncube said, had resolved all the issues around the supply of water
and energy, transportation of coal and steel and investment incentives,
which it was supposed to do.

On its part, the investor, Minister Ncube
said, was supposed to take over the plant and set up a US$10 million fund
for the youths and small to medium enterprises. He said Essar Group was also
supposed to pay the Zisco debt to China and Germany.

Minister Ncube
recently said Essar Group workers who have not been paid since March this
year would be paid as soon as the operations resumed. Essar Group stopped
paying salaries to its employees in March this year amid indications it had
forked out millions in wages without production.

The firm was reluctant
to continue pumping money into New Zim Steel which is yet to get iron ore
mining rights from the Government. The Redcliff-based company owed its
employees over US$12 million, a debt it assumed from Ziscosteel. The Herald

Govt
retains majority stake in POSB

By Ndakaziva Majaka, Staff
WriterWednesday, 19 December 2012 13:27HARARE - Cabinet has restructured
the People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB), with government retaining a 51 percent
stake, while private players will get a 49 percent share, a Cabinet minister
has said.

Gorden Moyo, the State Enterprises and Parastatals minister,
yesterday told journalists that government had decided to modernise the bank
and improve its services.

“After a memorandum from the
inter-ministerial committee on parastatals, government is shaving off 40
percent of POSB shareholding and taking on board other partners,” he
said.

Moyo said the bank will retain its original mandate, which is
serving the grassroots to boost banking services in the country.

He
said plans are underway to restructure the Zimbabwe Grain Bank (ZGB). Moyo
said Tredger Holdings will get first preference in partnering government in
ZGB since it already has ties with the entity.

The National Oil Company
of Zimbabwe has already been restructured while Agribank’s restructuring is
still in the pipeline.

Arda Chisumbanje is also on the restructuring
list.

Moyo said parastatal board reshuffling is
necessary.

Government will with effect from January 2013, implement
stiffer conditions concerning the funding of state-owned enterprises
following a series of misappropriation of funds by parastatals.

Moyo
said the decision resonates with good corporate governance
standards.

“From January 2013 onwards, requests for financial support by
state-owned enterprises and parastatals will only be considered by Treasury
after compliance with statutory obligations, provisions of the corporate
governance framework and the public finance management Act,” he
said.

Moyo said recommendations from line ministries should be
accompanied by an annual budget and strategic plan. Audited financial
reports and audited annual reports are also needed.

Performance
agreements between boards and chief executive officers and approved
restructuring proposals are also a necessity, he said.

Zimbabwe's
bush toliets and disease

Forests and bushes in Zimbabwe's rural areas have since
turned into toilets and have become major sources of outbreaks of
communicable diseases.

Mrs Senzile Ndlovu (38), a mother of six who lives
in Ndikimbela Village in Ward 22, Nkayi District, is among the villagers
who are living without toilets.

“We are finding it difficult to do
without toilets especially us women. A non-governmental organisation
promised to build some toilets for each household here but the programme is
yet to start.

“We used to have a makeshift toilet but it collapsed so we
are back to using the bush,” she said.

Mrs Nothando Dube from the
same village said most families had no toilets after most of the toilets
were destroyed by cyclone induced floods in 2000. She said they were as a
result using the bush to relieve themselves.

Mrs Dube said what has
compounded the situation was shortage of water for both domestic use and for
their livestock.

“We are facing difficulties especially now when the few
boreholes have dried up. We have serious challenges when it comes to
hygiene. We need toilets and access to safe drinking water. People are using
the bush for toilets and this is causing pollution of water bodies,” said
Mrs Dube.

Nkayi District Administrator, Mr Moses Mbewe, admitted that
several wards in the district had no toilets and that people had problems
accessing clean and safe drinking water.

“Many wards have no toilets
as many of them were destroyed by Cyclone Eline in 2000. Most boreholes have
broken down and as such people travel long distances to fetch water,” said
Mr Mbewe.

Unicef recently compiled a report titled A Situational Analysis
on the Status of Women and Children's Rights in Zimbabwe 2005 to 2011 the
(SITAN).

The survey which looked at the issue of Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH), revealed that in the last decade rural water and sanitation
development management has deteriorated and worsened by the decline of
support for health and hygiene education.

The SITAN reported that
most rural children are dying of mainly water-borne diseases such as
cholera, bilharzia, and diarrhoea because of poor sanitation.

The
report revealed that there is need to educate villagers on the importance of
having toilets, especially the older generations.

It is also reported
that about 60 percent of infant mortality worldwide is linked to poor
hygiene and water related infectious and parasitic diseases including common
ailments such as diarrhoea, intestinal worms, trachoma, bilharzia and
cholera mainly in the rural communities.

In his key note address at the
launch of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme early this year,
Unicef’s representative, Dr Peter Salama said WASH’s objective was to
improve access to clean and safe drinking water, sanitation and general
hygiene. He said this was in line with one of the Millennium Development
Goal (MDGs) which is to ensure people have access to safe clean water and
hygiene by 2015.

“Investment in safe water and appropriate sanitation is
critical to prevent outbreaks of water-borne diseases and will assist
Zimbabwe to meet many of the Millennium Development Goals,” said Dr
Salama.

Gideon Gono
economical with the truth

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono’s latest unpleasant utterances that his Bank
lacked the capacity to pay off retrenched workers not only displays the
highest form of deceitfulness by the Bank but also exposes Gono as a slimy
character and the RBZ as an awfully bad corporate citizen.

Gono loves
play-acting and whenever he gets a chance, especially before cameras and
notebooks, he likes being economical with the truth to buttress the little
that is left of his personal credibility.

So when Gono says his Bank does
not have the capacity to pay the retrenched workers, he is unfortunately
trying to sound like a good, caring Governor, in the process, hoodwinking
the nation into feeling sorry for him – that he is a good hearted Governor
ominously seized with a difficult situation.

But those of us who have
worked with him know that he only cares for himself – which explains why he
is still holed up at the Bank when the majority of the workers were made to
join the grimy ranks of the unemployed.

The cold and un-transparent
manner in which Gono has presided over the retrenchment exercise clearly
demonstrates his lack of concern. If the truth be told, the ex-workers were
heaved off the bank on the basis that they would be paid the remainder of
their dues by end of June 2011.

Gono and his Bank disgustingly failed to
honour this agreement confirming everyone affected’s worst worries that
these tricksters knew from the beginning that they did not have the enough
resources to fund their purge.

The question to ask then is, when Gono
says there is no capacity to pay off workers now, when and where did he and
his board think they were going to ‘grow” the funds when they made promises
to the odd 1000+ hapless men and women. Isn’t this the highest form of
unethical behaviour?

When the retrenchees protested and then contested
Gono’s modus-operandi following the collapse of the agreed payment plan and
demanded prompt payments through the courts, Gono’s Bank through its lawyers
said under oath the Bank would offset the worker’s dues from income derived
from the sale of the Bank’s non-core assets. It is in the public domain
which assets the Bank has identified for disposal.

So far, the Bank
has successfully disposed off two assets which include a part of Homelink
and the entirety of Tractive Power Holdings. So why is the “good” Governor
telling humankind that his Bank has no capacity to pay the workers? What
does he want to do with the money from the disposal of the assets? Besides,
Treasury has reliably provided him with money to fund this
exercise.

To save his skin and himself, from an inglorious exit from
the cookie-jar the Bank has been, Gono agreed to adopt the Government of
National Unity and World Bank’s advised reformation of the Bank. Through
this action, the retrenchment becomes the creation of
government.

Tendai Biti, the Ministry of Finance as principals of the RBZ
along with Gono become willing accomplices to this malice and therefore
should equally shoulder responsibility for the exercise and should JUST
please find the money to finance the retrenchment and bring closure to this
matter. It is only fair.

It is such a shame that the ex-workers, whom
no one now sympathizes with, worked their socks off under Gono’s era and
some even lost lives working 24/7 executing many of Gono’s hare-brained
projects – performed to stroke his twisted EGO as well as to please his
incorrigible masters.

And yet nobody in government wants to come to the
party for the workers in their moment of need, by ensuring they get their
entitlements. When Gono says that he is troubled by the plight of the former
workers, again, he is lying to the world – like he always does to look like
a nice guy.

The same world should know that same Gono, as the CEO of the
Bank has refused to meet AT ALL with the workers. He has refused to discuss
their future, to entertain their grievances or tell how he intends to pay
off what’s left of their packages.

The ex-workers are thus very
surprised when the ‘good” Governor tells the workers and the nation, through
newspapers that he is troubled by their plight, when he has spurned numerous
efforts to dialogue with him. Once the workers left the Bank on that fateful
day on January 31 2011, the “troubled” Governor turned his bank on
them.

Another famed mistruth by the Governor is that the retrenched
workers have been paid more than their former colleagues at the Bank
including the Governor. Gono must not insult the workers with such unkind
remarks. In the first instance, what is he comparing?

Comparing an
unemployed person who has been receiving his package in bits and pieces with
someone earning a very comfortable salary every month? The new RBZ salary
structures effected at the time of the retrenchments indicate that the least
paid person at the Bank has to date been paid way better than those
retrenched and Gono knows that.

If Gono was really serious about paying
off the workers, he would have done so a long time ago, for example, by
adopting the retrenchment model used by Fidelity Printers and Refinery where
all the workers identified for retrenchment did leave work until they were
all fully paid – starting with the least paid.

Again, if Gono really
cared for the workers, why can’t he convince government or argue for a
once-off payment of the workers with the same gusto he pushed his irrational
policies and agendas during his peak as the commanding Governor of the
Central Bank.

In a world where overall strategic management of an
organization is inseparable from the strategic management of stakeholder’s
issues, the way the RBZ has handled the issue of ex-workers portray with a
shadow of doubt bad corporate citizenry by an institution the sheer size and
social standing of the Central Bank.

Stancilus Makotore is a former
RBZ worker seriously aggravated and perturbed by Gono and the Bank’s
conduct.

Chihuri
got it all wrong

Last Saturday the
Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri, castigated
MDC-T Secretary General, Tendai Biti, for pointing out that generals should
not be partisan.

Biti had, while delivering a lecture in the UK,
complained that service chiefs had demonstrated their brazen bias towards
Zanu (PF) once again by attending the party’s recent annual conference in
Gweru as delegates.

Chihuri then took advantage of a police Christmas
church service in Harare to berate Biti for saying so, and lamely tried to
justify service chiefs’ presence—which he vowed would continue in the
future—on the basis that they had fought for Zimbabwe’s
independence.

He said: “We are part and parcel of the revolution. We
cannot be divorced from that revolution; those who are thinking of leading
this country without respecting those who fought for it must stop dreaming”.
He also lamely attempted to have us believe that, as service chiefs, they
should go wherever the President goes. The Zanu (PF) conference is a private
event and service chiefs have no obligation to be there. They should only
attend national events such as Heroes’ Day and Independence Day.

Of
course, most of the utterances he made are not new. We have heard these
pronouncements from service chiefs since 2002 when Vitalis Zvinavashe, then
head of the military, talked of Zimbabwean leadership being a
straight-jacket, albeit with different versions.

But Chihuri, just
like the other generals, ought to be disabused of this very wrong way of
reasoning things out. Nobody has said Chihuri or any other service chief
should not defend the revolution. What is wrong is the platform they are
using to do it.

As Biti says, they are public servants, and Zimbabwean
law makes it criminal for them to be engaged in active politics, or, worse
still, to openly back one party. As we move towards the next election, this
is very important. Zimbabweans have had enough of the police chief’s
selective application of the law.

Chihuri and his colleagues ought to
be told in no uncertain terms that respect for the liberation struggle is
not their preserve. They should avoid talking as though they are the only
ones who contributed towards freeing Zimbabwe.

We are not a
mouthpiece of any political party, and do not intend to become one. However,
just what is it that makes the likes of Chihuri think that if people vote
for any party other than Zanu (PF), they are selling away the country? Who
are they to decide what the people of Zimbabwe should do or not do? If they
want to be Zanu (PF) activists, people like Chihuri should just quit their
jobs and apply to become full-time political commissars. We challenge them
to do that and see if anyone will complain.

In this issue we highlight
yet another incident of the ZRP’s acute bias. In Masvingo, the MDC-T was
recently denied permission to hold a rally on the basis that they had not
applied properly, yet Zanu (PF) held a rally without applying. There are
several other cases whereby Zanu (PF)’s opponents are denied freedom of
association and assembly yet Chihuri’s party enjoys that without
restraint.

Zimbabwe is not a one-party state, but even if it was, the
office of the Commissioner General should be a neutral one.

Comment on Procurement and Corruption

The Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti,
appears to believe that moving procurement from Local Authorities to the
State Procurement Boardwill end corruption and reduce inefficiency. I somehow doubt it and
the Minister himself has little faith in the SPB (see Biti slams Tender Board” Newsday, 22 Feb 2012). The
eighty-nine local authorities in the country will now be sending their tender
documents to a centralised body for approval: it is unlikely that this small and
opaque body will be able to handle the volume of work suddenly dumped upon it,
even if the SPB is itself can avoid corrupt practices.

The solution to corruption and inefficiency is institutionalised
accountability and transparency, not dictatorial centralisation. Make the
councils publish every last detail of all municipal transactions online so we,
the ordinary citizens, can carry out our own audits, using the power of
crowd-sourcing to expose corruption. Backed by an independent media, we have the
capacity to examine council business and expose questionable activities. For
example, let us have the full details of what the City of Harare has spent on
water chemicals, who they have purchased these from, and who are the directors
and owners of the companies who supplied the chemicals. Harare is our city,
these are our elected officials and our employees so why should we not be fully
informed? Any bureaucrat or politician opposing such a suggestion obviously has
something to hide or seeks to perpetuate the system of opacity and
corruption.

However there is a bigger question that the Minister’s dictat raises - has he
forgotten which party he belongs to when he acts this way? Does he remember the
meanings of “movement” or “democratic” or “change”? “Movement” in its political
sense implies a gathering of many people of differing opinions for the purpose
of achieving specific goals, “Democratic” means a process of involvement of many
people in political decision making – the exact opposite of autocratic. And, of
course, “Change” means doing things differently from the past.

Nothing that we have seen in the past 3 or 4 years leads one to believe that
any of these qualities are being upheld by the MDC-T. From the imposition of an
unelected Mayor in Harare (and one who by his own admission was only approached
by the party on the morning of his swearing-in and who belongs to no political
party) thereby over-ruling the democratic process, to the arrogance of some
councillors who, having being elected, now think they are beyond accountability,
one may be forgiven for assuming that we were conned by those in democratic
sheep's clothing who were actually wolves wanting their piece of the pie. The
ordinary members of the MDC-T should be on their guard against the influence of
our insidious political culture on their party: patronage, patriarchy,
personality cultism, violence and intolerance should be opposed if they wish to
avoid ending up becoming ZANU-Lite.